The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め A web log by Nigel Ruddock of life in Germany as an expat, with excursions to Japan and the UK.

Tag: photography

  • 💥 Connectivity ケーブル?

    💥 Connectivity ケーブル?

    March 22nd 2026年3月22日

    ✔️ Cables

    What? You don’t still use a cable to listen to music do you?

    え？まさかまだケーブルを使って音楽を聴いてるの？

    Yes, in fact I do, and I’m glad I have an older iphone that still has the socket. According to a recent reputable newspaper, (one which is not beholden to shareholders) people are getting fed up with Bluetooth, on top of losing their airpods or buds, either because they are so loseable, or because they don’ t fit into your ears. As for myself, I can hardly open this smooth pebble-shaped container…….

    人々はBluetoothに飽き始めている

    And even if I succeeded, I would need to carry a pair of tweezers with me to extract the wretched buds Then one would fall on the floor, probably the floor of a train carriage, straight into a pool of fetid beer…….

    Airpods….buds…..bluetooth 🔵yellowtooth 🟡blacktooth ⚫……damn them all. Give me a cable anytime. It’s connectivity. And it’s what people are yearning for.

    ✔️ It’s physical

    Ever pulled a pair of trousers 👖 out of the washing machine and discovered something in one of the pockets? Happened to me last week……It’s from the Onsen in Kita Hoshikawa . And because it is a physical photo on a piece of card I can hold it in my hand. I stop and think about sliding into that hot water…..connectivity. So much deeper than an image on my monitor.

    ズボンを洗濯したらこれを見つけた。温泉で過ごした素敵な一日を思い出させてくれる、まさに記念品だ。

    ✔️ Just the ticket.

    A friend of mine once showed me a fine dinner jacket which he had inherited from his grandfather. He had found a real tailor in Dublin who adjusted it to his size. And he had discovered something in one of the pockets – a modest little ticket – almost like an old bus ticket 🎟️.

    On it ROH was printed in strong capitals. It took me a moment to realize what this meant. His grandfather had been to the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE 🏛️and had left a little momento behind.

    Now would you keep the QR code of a concert ticket today ? – no chance, it was on your phone and got deleted soon afterwards.

    ✔️ Discs

    And what’s this? apparently there is a resurgent demand for DVDs 💿 Another backlash it seems. This time against streaming. Is that film on Netflix? or Amazon Prime or where? So you find it eventually. Is your subscription up to date?….Oh, what…I thought I had cancelled that one……

    You settle down eventually to your film. In a crucial moment of high drama your internet connection does a wobbly (even though you are paying good money for it) and the film starts buffering……don’t tell me that has never happened to you!

    I find there is something very satisfying about picking a DVD or book (not a kindle) off the shelf and settling down at your own pace to enjoy it…..

    DVDは実物媒体です。ストリーミング配信はありません。

    It’s a physical experience. You are in charge.

    ✔️ Connecting Cities

    After years of under- investment, DB (Deutsche Bahn) are finally getting around to upgrading their tracks and signals etc. But they haven’t got enough people to drive the trains. Isn’t that bizarre? 🧑🏼‍✈️. So we here in Germany are all trying to be very patient, and hoping that in a few years time things will be better. I saw these two ICE (that means Inter City Express by the way – no relation to Donald’s thugs) pull up in Frankfurt last week. They looked rather impressive. Sadly neither of them stopped in Langen…….(😐)

    DB ドイツ鉄道。写真は素敵だけど、私の乗っている列車じゃないな…。

    ✔️ Hold on to your seats...

    ……we have a short disconnect…….

    少々お待ちください。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。！

    ✔️ Ah, that’s better.

    Now will everyone just slow down for a minute…..? Thank you. She’s just walking. He’s talking on his phone whilst hugging the Bröttchen 🥖 and he’s performing a graceful right swerve….🚴🏼‍♂️

    皆さん、もう少しゆっくりしてください…😆

    ✔️ Connect a violinmaker with his ‘cello

    ….. and the musical niveau is of course due to the instrument, not the player….😄

    Leise flehen meine Lieder
    Durch die Nacht zu dir,
    In den stillen Hain hernieder,
    Liebchen, komm zu mir

    (My songs call out gently
    Through the night as they beseech you;
    Come down here into the quiet grove of trees,
    Beloved, come to me!)

    チェロと持ったバイオリン職人

    Yes, it’s Schubert’s Serenade isn’t it? Thank you Sabine …😊

    ✔️ Meditating on the Universe….

    …….the Universe being Frankfurt am Main naturally….

    フランクフルト

    ✔️ Time to get the tiles on

    …..before the April showers…..🌧️

    Such cool nonchalence, standing on a roof 3 floors up and lobbing the things around……

    I’m sure I suggested red ones, not black ones. Come on guys…this is after all The View from the Towers ..!..😆

    タワーからの眺めが変わりつつある…。

    As a consolation, the gods provided some colour around the next corner….

    春の色

    and elsewhere……

    As always, thank you for your interest, and if you know anyone who might be interested in this blog then do forward it on.

    Wie immer vielen Dank für euer Interesse. Wenn ihr jemanden kennt, der an diesem Blog interessiert sein könnte, schickt ihn gerne weiter.

    読んでくれてありがとう

    See you……. matane!

    Nigel 💥

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com.

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    THE END

    終わり

  • 👘 Kimono 着物

    January 14th 2026 年1月14日

    🔶 Last week I mentioned kimonos, parasols, ladies playing the koto and neon flashing cities. Well, being winter, parasols are a rare sight, but not unknown. As for kimonos, well, ladies will never miss an opportunity to wear one – be it to a special event like a concert or a festival…or an exhibition, like this one in Roppongi….a rather smart area of Tokyo.

    …………..In the The Suntory Museum of Art

    Of course the disgraceful westerner was content to go casual……

    六本木にはカジュアルすぎる服装だとは分かっています

    But his companion had other ideas…..

    私の同伴者は服装が素敵だ

    🔶 The range of designs available for kimonos seems endless – here are some samplers from a shop in Tokyo…

    🔶 And back home in Hoshikawa you can’t have a tea ceremony without kimonos. So Misako-san and Sayuri-san gave some expert instruction to our two guests from Germany…

    ….It’s very difficult to put them on by yourself…..

    ミサコさんは私たちのドイツ人ゲストを助けてくれます…..

    Happy smiles….

    嬉しい…..

    🔶 Now it’s Nigel’s turn to whip up his Matcha tea…..He looks like he’s trying too hard….

    ナイジェルは頑張りすぎです…。

    He’s more at home wandering the backstreets of Hoshikawa…taking sneak pictures of Yokohama…..

    横浜

    …or the neighbour’s citrus tree….

    🔶 Now he’s met up with his Frankfurt pal Benedikt for a “European” chat, then with the rest of the family at Kikuna Ice rink, where Ema-chan has been swirling around, full of energy……..

    ナイジェルはベネディクト、マキさん、エミちゃんに会う

    🔶 The big adventure. Tomoko has booked a passage on the Ogasawara Maru to the Bonin Islands. These islands lie about 1000km south East of Tokyo in the middle of, well, nowhere really.

    Japan really does have some extraordinary contrasts. In the north the snow is deep and there is even an ice festival. If you go far enough you meet Russia. In the south it’s sub-tropical, and you eventually meet Taiwan.

    🔶 The Bonin or Ogasawara Islands have only one connection to the mainland. And that is this aforementioned cargo/ferry ship. It only sails once a week!

    大冒険。小笠原に行ったことがありますか？

    We meet at Takeshiba pier in Tokyo and lug our luggage aboard…See that crane on the right?

    🔶 Well, these containers have food for the shops, noodles for the restaurants, plus construction tools, post, wood, pipes, metal…anything really – even a small van.

    We pull out of Tokyo harbour….

    🔶 My experiences of ferries are limited to European cross-channel trips. Drive on/drive off jobs. So this 24-hour trip to the islands left behind some strong impressions. We are here in a different category altogether.

    🔶 “Sunrise, sunset ” except that contrary to the song in Anatefka, it’s Sunset, Sunrise… Having left Tokyo at 11am, we were well under way by late afternoon……

    In the evening we passed one of the many islands that lie like a string of scattered pearls in the Pacific Ocean….

    🔶And then...the night: Staring out from the lower deck there is nothing but pitch black darkness. I am reminded of a phrase in Vaughan Williams’ “Serenade to Music”…….”….soft stillness, and the night….“

    Nothing. Until you climb up to Deck 7 ……No ship lights on the horizon, no moon (yet)…How did those early mariners feel without the blazing lights of the modern ship?

    Starlight Express…..

    フェリーで小笠原に着くまで24時間かかります…

    I lay down on my back and stared heavenwards….

    …………….

    星

    And then there was the moon…….

    月

    🔶 No internet : But helpful modern technology. Like my noise-reducing, bluetooth headphones. I lie down in my bunk bed and listen to a Mendelssohn piano sonata. Oblivious to the throb of the ships engines….

    🔶 Passengers: About 50 maybe. The ship feels quite empty…

    船はとても清潔です

    They gather in little groups – the islanders all know each other and soon a drinks party is underway. There is a funny-looking man in a black office coat (The Man in the Mac), there are young lovers – mostly students – clean shaven men and shy girls – all dressed in that casual but tasteful style that the Japanese are so adept at.

    I count all but three foreigners. 1 unshaven American, 1 serious German engineer with a huge camera (who tells me all about offshore windmills and how difficult they are to build here – the ocean being at least 1 kilometre deep) and myself (tourist, family friend, chamber music addict).

    乗客は約50人。島の住民、ビジネスマン、労働者、観光客

    🔶 Civilization: After 24 hours the bathrooms and toilets are still immaculate. The drinkers clean up their table, using the dishcloth provided. The staff empty the rubbish bins. The ship is clean.

    No half-empty crisp packets. No beer cans rolling on the floor.

    🔶 Eating: There is a quiet cafeteria, a busy lounge and a self-service kitchen rather like that in a youth hostel, with hot water and vending machines….and free chopsticks…

    🔶 For those who simply want to read a book : Quiet enclaves with an eclectic mixture of plastic and wooden chairs. Quirky and refreshing to the eye. Note the chain…typhoon or no typhoon…gotta keep reading that Joseph Conrad….

    本を読むコーナー…椅子のチェーンに注目してください!

    🔶 Notices and announcements: Too many of them. But really, I am being a bit critical here, for some are really useful….

    🔶 Crossing climate zones: On going out on deck the next morning at sunrise a strange new warm wind ruffles my hair.

    夜明け

    In Tokyo it was thick winter jacket, scarf and woolly hat. Here, leaning over the rail wearing a shirt and thin trousers one of the questions was – what shall I do with those clothes now?

    The light turned to lovely shades of blue as day dawned….

    How could anyone think that the earth is round? It is obviously flat isn’t it…….

    We have arrived.

    最後に到着しました

    🔶 The Ogasawara Maru is now docked at the harbour and will remain there until it returns to Tokyo in three days time.

    🔶 Suddenly it feels like a real holiday. It’s the vegetation which strikes us first….

    突然、本当の休日のような気分になります

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogasawara_subtropical_moist_forests

    The hibiscus flower is everywhere….

    ハイビスカス

    …and the first beach. Not of sand, but of millions of fragments of coral…cameras springs into action….

    Coral…..

    珊瑚

    🔶 The islands have a tricky past. With sporadic colonization by the Portugese, the Dutch, the British and the Americans since the Edo-era. And in World War II, bitter fighting in the Pacific war……

    島々は困難な歴史を持っている

    …..subsequent neglect and eventual restoration to Japan in the 1960s.

    🔶 On our first walk we encounter the Shinto shrine, so essential for the many who have died here, either through conflict or shipwreck….

    海で亡くなった人々のための記念碑

    🔶 The weather is kind to us as we hike along the coast (I am glad I brought my hiking boots, for the terrain is sometimes quite steep and rocky- though paved around the observation posts)

    ハイキング

    A view down to the harbour…

    Our host drives us to a popular bathing and snorkelling spot…..

    🔶 Sometimes we see plants whose poor relatives adorn the offices of Frankfurt, or are sold in pots in Ikea…

    フランクフルトのオフィスでは、鉢植えの植物が見られます!!!

    lunch snack is rolled rice balls and green tea…

    …..imported cats nearly destroyed the population of these ground-feeding pigeons….There is now not one single cat here…

    clams from the beach…

    A climb up a hill is rewarded by a stunning view…

    Your author poses….

    Other non-furry friends can be fed…

    Turtles. They are monitored at a research station nearby….

    カメ

    🔶 Unfortunately, due to an impending storm, our ship has to sail back to Tokyo a day early. We are given a warm farewell from our host, Shima-san….

    残念ながら、嵐の予報のため、出発が1日早まりました。ホストがお別れを告げます

    And a send off from the local Taiko drummers…

    ……along with a farwell flottila of small ships as we leave the harbour…

    伝統的な別れ…

    🔶 It may be strange to say it, but I felt deeply moved by this show of gratitude and well-wishing from the islanders. This is not just a show for tourists. A young mother, with an infant asleep on her shoulder, says goodbye to her parents. A diving crew cheer on their colleagues. An old man waves his stick at us passengers on the deck. The ship is an integral part of this community. There is no airstrip. Indeed, there is literally no other way to reach this place.

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🙋‍♂️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり🐬

  • ⛩️ Hoshikawa, Odawara 星川, 小田原市

    6th January 2026年1月6日

    🔵 I wake up in the middle of the night. My feet are freezing. Socks, that’s what I need now. Hiking socks 🧦!

    But why is my room so cold? I think of that photo I posted last week. Of the wooden framework of a new house being built. Japanese houses do not have central heating 🤔. When you enter a cold room you just flick on the air conditioning unit, which doubles as a heater in winter. And a very effective one at that. A completely different concept of heating compared to that in Europe. It makes sense.

    1月は寒いですが、晴れています

    🔵 Since New Years Day Japan has been in a holiday modus. Look: here is Japanese man enjoying his Austin Healey Sprite…….

    星川の古い英国製スポーツカー

    Everyone has time – to eat, to drink, to take a walk, to go shopping – to relax in other words. Time to wear a kimono,time to bring the children on an outing. Time for the family. And I notice how strong that latter tradition is.

    🔵 Let’s start with New Year’s Eve.

    At my host family’s house in Hoshikawa, relatives, guests and friends are all gathered………

    まずは大晦日から始めましょう。

    It’s a make your own sushi job…..first grab some Nori (rolled out seaweed)……add some rice and off you go…..yummy!

    I lost count of the courses……

    Yu-san seemed to be in charge of the sake, which flowed freely……

    酒はゆうさんが担当のようでした

    Whilst Bibi, Isabell and Lavi share a joke in one corner…..

    🔵 Before the stroke of midnight we all had to eat Soba noodles. It’s a tradition…….

    そば

    🕛!

    夜中

    Then it’s coats and shoes on and off to the Shinto shrine……

    Tachibana Jinja
    橘樹神社

    🔵 It’s at Tennocho, only about 10 mins walk from the house. We shuffle forward in the long queue, passing under the sacred Tori gateposts…..

    The moon looks down from above…..

    Photo: Misako-san

    🔵 We finally approach the shrine. Here, two by two, we shake the thick bell rope, throw in our offering, bow and clap hands together. We wish for good fortune in the coming year….

    🔵 At the stand nearby we collect a yummy (free!) sake from a tent and huddle around a big warm fire. I notice that the local Yokohama fireman have taken over the responsibility here. I feel privileged to be a part of this really rather intimate old Japanese tradition.

    🔵 The next day, New Year’s Day, the celebrations continued. With a very special meal, using tableware brought out only once a year…..

    ……and bearing the Kanakura family crest – a cross formed by two feathers….

    Photo: Isabell

    A special teapot…..

    Lavi helps by making a sweet brocade egg cake called Nishiki Tamago (錦玉子)……

    Photo: Isabell

    Thank you Misako-san for all the delicious cooking 👏👏👏!

    🔵 Yes, the nights are cold. But the days are bright, dry and sunny.

    I need to get out and take in the fresh January air. With a benevolent air of politeness, cleanliness and punctuality, the Tokaido Line train deposits me in the coastal town of Odawara. It is a charming place, with a pretty castle, a wide open beach and a busy fishing port. It also happens to be on the route of the Ekiden – an annual running event. Spot a runner…..😅

    小田原市. (駅伝)

    The castle is easier to spot…..

    小田原市

    You enter the inner ramparts via a bridge over the moat…..

    …….and pass through one of the imposing gates..

    🔵 Soon you can see the heavy toll that the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake  had on the place. At one point a whole section of rampart simply slide down the hill and has been there ever since…

    But thanks to restoration and rebuilding the clean lines of the Edo-era castle can be appreciated….

    Early plum blossoms near the inner moat….

    …a display of wattle and daub….

    …the impressive main keep rises up at the centre of the complex….

    🔵 Usually there is very little to see inside these buildings. There are lots of very steep stairs and slatted windows. You climb up to the top for the view of course. But today the holiday crowds had formed a long queue at the entrance, so I headed down to the sea instead.

    🔵 Whimsical manholes were set into the pavements……

    And even the drains received artistic attention….

    Ignoring google maps, I found a way under the main road to reach the beach….

    小田原市.

    …a beach not unlike Brighton in Sussex….

    ビーチはイギリスのブライトンを思い出させます

    With a Wiltshire touch..(bizarre!)

    ストーンヘンジ!

    ……someone had built little stupa to adorn the scene….

    ….and at one point, in one of nature’s flourishes, a fresh water stream meets the ocean…..

    小川が海と出会う

    I headed for the harbour.

    🔵 When I first came to Japan I had a naive image of a land where ladies played the koto or strolled in their kimonos under parasols. Of ancient wooden houses nestling in valleys, neon flashing cities and, and, and, and. All this is still there.

    But I was not prepared for the daring civil engineering – a necessary skill in a country where roads and railways have to use the limited space available, especially along the coast. There is beauty here aswell……

    私は日本の大胆な土木工学に感心しています

    …..which sits cheek by jowl beside the traditional…..here a fish restaurant …

    …a boat enters the harbour undeterred…..

    船が港に入る

    It is a day boat,. The fish market has already dealt with todays’ haul….

    今日の魚市場は終了です

    …and a young heron perches on the roof eyeing any available left-overs….

    サギ

    🔵 Being a tourist can be hard work, and sometimes you just need to sit down, open your rucksack and enjoy whatever it was you bought at that convenience store……in this case a dorayaki…mmmm….https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorayaki

    But the boats never rest…

    whilst the birds circle above….

    Time to head home…..

    家に帰る時間です

    Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

    読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

    See you またね 🙋‍♂️

    nigelwruddock@gmail.com

    https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

    The End

    終わり🏯